The Perfect Arrangement (The Not So Saintly Sisters #4) - Annabelle Anders Page 0,30
through them. “Are they uncomfortable?”
“The benefit surpasses the annoyance.” He watched her as though her curiosity fascinated him.
The smooth silver that wound behind his ears felt warm from his skin. She hadn’t considered how touching them was, in itself, an act of intimacy.
A foreboding slide down her spine. This was the emotional intimacy that threatened to hurt her. It would make losing him even more difficult to endure. She studied his lashes, the skin around his eyes, the small red mark across the bridge of his nose.
She liked him.
Very much...
Having known him might also make the pain of all of this worthwhile. If everything went as planned, she would have a child. She could tell her child—their child—about his father. The thought trickled away when he removed the spectacles from her fingers. He dropped them onto the nearby table and then hungrily claimed her lips again.
This kissing. It was nice. He seemed to be in no hurry as he tasted her mouth, and then her throat, and then returned again to her mouth.
“Christian?” She was enjoying herself—immensely—and yet she could not help but wonder when he would get to the business at hand.
“Lillian?” he teased but pulled away to look into her eyes once again.
“Um. Perhaps if this is going to take a while, we might wish to eat first after all?”
He laughed softly, and she felt some surprise that his amusement didn’t annoy her. Although he seemed to be laughing at her, he also seemed happy with her.
“You wish to eat?” He didn’t wait for her response but had grasped something from the table and before she could protest, taken a bite of the plump berry and was then moistening her lips with its juices. “You are hungry after all?”
It was as though he was kissing her with the strawberry now. She parted her mouth and he placed the sweet morsel on her tongue. He did not remove his fingertips but trailed them along her teeth and then her lower lip.
She chewed and swallowed the fruit but then gasped a little when he slid his finger inside of her mouth.
“Lillian.” His voice came out sounding gruff. “I believe we can move to the bed now?”
Finally!
Lillian nodded and then gasped again when he scooped her into his arms and carried her across the room as though she weighed next to nothing.
Chapter 9
A Taste of Bliss
With her arms wound around his neck, Lillian contemplated that very soon she would know what it was like to be a wife, in body as well as in name.
So far, she had been more than pleased with the kissing and the touching and the teasing. She hoped she would find the rest of consummation equally as enjoyable.
He, oh, so gently, lowered her onto the bed, atop the counterpane, but then surprised her by slipping out of his banyan.
Oh! Oh, my.
He wasn’t shy at all about the appendage bouncing against his toned abdomen as he turned and then climbed onto the bed beside her. She swallowed hard, and then swallowed again and after one startled glance stared everywhere but… there.
He was certainly not bouncing his knee now. Why hadn’t she anticipated how overwhelming a naked man could be? “It isn’t dangerous.” He flashed a grin as though he could read her mind.
Unable to come up with a response, Lillian wondered where all of her confidence had fled. This was going to happen. It was real.
But then he frowned. “I’ve made you uncomfortable.”
None of this was nearly as simple as she’d imagined it. “Is making love always so complicated?”
“I have hopes that in time it will become less so.” His hand trailed along her side and Lillian wiggled in an attempt to shake off the uncertainty that attacked her at the sight of his… manhood.
“Should I touch it?”
His eyes widened. “You are more than welcome to.” He pulled away from her enough so that she could have her look of his swollen appendage. The flesh was pink and thick veins seemed to be throbbing beneath the skin as it seemed to bob and wave.
She lowered her hand and ran a fingertip down the side of it and he drew in a hissing breath. “It doesn’t… hurt?” It was softer than she’d imagined but also hard. “It isn’t always like this, is it?”
“No, to both questions.” He wrapped his hand around hers, causing her fingers to encompass the width. It was warm… hot almost and it pulsed.